Spring practice shows Spartans have pieces for another Big Ten championship run

EAST LANSING -- Michigan State’s spring football season seemed to last forever stretched over five weeks, but it is not a stretch to believe Mark Dantonio’s program continues to steadily forward.

In the wake of Saturday’s spring game, the Spartans received their 2010 Big Ten Conference championship rings at a team picnic. The rings are big. They are symbolic. They are the first the program has handed out since 1990.

At about the same time, star linebacker and the face of the program last year, Greg Jones, was picked by the New York Giants in the sixth round of the NFL draft.

A few picks later, Chris L. Rucker, who at times demonstrated both the talent in the program and the embarrassment in off-the-field incidents, went to the Indianapolis Colts.

They were the only two Spartans drafted, which made for a dramatic comparison to Alabama, which sent them home humbled from the Capital One Bowl. The Crimson Tide had four players drafted in the first round.

Don’t get lost in the comparison, though. As Jones will use dropping to the sixth round as fuel to prove yet again he belongs, the Spartans showed this spring perhaps the best is yet to come.

A word of caution here: This year’s schedule is much more difficult than 2010. The Spartans could be a better team, yet not have the same success. Just saying.

Given spring practice, though, one thing is clear. The parts to build another Big Ten championship team are there.

The quarterback, Kirk Cousins, returns for his senior season. He was especially sharp in the spring game, as you would hope for a senior who won a ring.

There is team speed on both sides of the ball and good size up front. The younger players on this roster from the most recent recruiting classes have more talent, more size and more speed than the previous classes.

They have a lot to learn, but instead of thinking of the Spartans as a team with some playmakers and players who must over achieve, it’s clearly a team with the potential to have several playmakers mixed in with those who reach greater heights.

There is more depth. The Spartans, despite having as many as 13 players out of the game with various injuries, split into two teams. Quality players were on both teams, too. Also, areas of concern such as the offensive line and linebacker have several people in the mix to replace departed players. Consistency in recruiting also has developed.

Dantonio is proud to say this spring, they have numbers, and by that he means a number of talented players to pick from and develop.

Finally, there is a willingness to embrace the real situation. The Spartans understand they won a Big Ten title last year, but the next time will be much more difficult. Cousins pointed that out after the game by bringing up the Alabama embarrassment as a case in point.

Dantonio asked this team to stay hungry on the first day of practice. After spending the spring talking with them, it appears the Spartans still feel as if they have a lot to prove. They know what you are thinking. Once, well, it can be a fluke.

If it was a fluke, it came with a nice ring.

The hard part comes when the rings are put aside and another season starts.

Many times in the past, the Spartans seemed undermanned for what was ahead. Sometimes, that included coaches as well as players.

Not this time.

A long spring promises a program that appears ready to annually be among the best in the Big Ten.﻿